Images of Black Dead Bodies; African Media Outlets & Bloggers Post Photos, Videos of Dead Bodies

Saturday, 24 June 2023

By: TB Obwoge

Reading news from over 45 countries one can't help but noticed that there are more brutal photos of dead bodies of Black skinned Africans. Videos of these same dead bodies are not only all over social media but there are embedded links in articles.

'Black Death' is being shown even in the United States, with Black citizens shown in videos of American police shootings. From historic photos of Blacks hanging from trees, being lynched like animals on American streets. Turned into post cards, used for collecting and mailing to white people's loved ones.

In several articles about brutal murders of African women, some bloggers and media outlets are showing photos these dead women's bodies. Scrolling through articles without warning photos of these bodies are posted as if this is a normal process.

When Edwin Chiloba murdered & stuffed into a mental foot looker. His body was posted by news outlets and bloggers, no the photos were not blurred out.

In Uganda Charles Engola, he served as the junior minister in charge of labor. He was shot and killed by his body guard whom later shot himself to death. When posting the morning news links for Uganda news on Facebook there is body lay.

Before the police arrived his bullet ridden body was laid on the ground near a vehicle. His body was at least clothed and covered however he was never the less dead. The blood coming from the holes in his body.

In Ghana a string of unrelated murders of women and girls by the hands of their lovers made national news in the West African nation. Just about every murder was brutal, machete, beaten with a cinder block, burned with hot oil, knifed, poisoning and gun shots.

Most of these women's bodies were shared by journalists, bloggers or news outlets on social media and in their articles. GH Page Ghana is one that is known for doing this, they're rewarded by thousands of Ghanians who flock to the news outlet to see these dead bodies.

Police officers have been shot in Ghana and Uganda, their bodies too made it into news articles. Why would journalists think posting the dead bodies of peoples loved ones in articles was a proper thing to do?

I've created a poll and asked people through social media groups, some think it's normal practice because it has happened consistently in their news.

A mother in Tanzania told me her children aren't allowed to have their own Facebook accounts. She admitted to allowing them to use hers, one in which she blocked content. However in her above comment on Facebook she said how media outlets she had blocked, had now re-branded itself as another news agency.

She was tired of seeing the dead bodies of those of the Kenya cult starvation.

News outlets were showing bodies being pulled from shallow graves. In Kenya those who were exhuming the bodies spoke about the difficulties they had from seeing so much death and dead bodies. This is the same trauma many Africans are forced to witness on a daily basis.

Images of Death in the Media

CASE STUDY: Journalism and the Ethics of Using the Dead

Historically, death images have had a controversial past in American journalism. For example, photos of horrific lynchings provide modern viewers with an accurate depiction of the normalization of brutal death for African Americans, with crowds of white townspeople surrounding the hangings with refreshments and a “picnic-like atmosphere” (Zuckerman, 2017).

These events portray a lack of humanity; while African Americans are burned and dismembered, everyone else is merrymaking, as if they were at a neighborhood carnival. One could argue that photos speak louder than words in this case, as historical news reports describing the atrocities conveyed them as spectacles, but not to the extent of celebrations.

For example, following a headline announcing the lynching of John Hartfield at 5 o’clock that afternoon, a sub-headline read “Thousands of People Are Flocking into Ellisville to Attend the Event.” Gruesome photos seem to be useful now, however, to understand the environment that encouraged these killings.

Though it is recognized that these images are prone to disturb, many maintain that it is quite necessary to confront them in order to prevent anything of its kind in the future. While “there is no comfort in looking at this history—and little hope save the courage of those who survived it … there may be no justice… until we stop looking away” (Zuckerman, 2017).

This is the same reasoning that 60 Minutes relied upon when they decided to show historical lynching photos in a segment produced by Oprah Winfrey on lynching and racist violence in America. Of course, the challenge is that these pictures might cause or invoke psychological harm among those related to the victims of lynching or those fearful of racist violence.

There is also the possibility that airing such photos might cause enjoyment or encouragement among racist viewers; critics might remind us that many of these shocking photos were taken and celebrated in their day because they captured an event prized by violent racists.

Source: MediaEngagement.org

African media outlets possibly won't ever stop posting these dead bodies, this has been their 'culture' for several years. Most people seem to see nothing wrong with Black death, even Black Africans.

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©️TB Obwoge 2023 All Rights Reserved